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COOL FOR SCHOOL

All the talk about kids' diets would seem to translate into merchandising and promotional gains for Center Store.Think again. Few retailers have been touting healthy-eating messages as part of their back-to-school promotions. When it comes to stocking the pantry with lunch box fare, items that kids want and that meet parents' demands for convenience often trump better-for-you options."I do not see

All the talk about kids' diets would seem to translate into merchandising and promotional gains for Center Store.

Think again. Few retailers have been touting healthy-eating messages as part of their back-to-school promotions. When it comes to stocking the pantry with lunch box fare, items that kids want and that meet parents' demands for convenience often trump better-for-you options.

"I do not see a lot of focus on promoting healthy eating, which I think is a missed opportunity," said Caren Berlin, a youth marketer and chief executive officer of Gold N Fish, Armonk, N.Y.

About 15% of U.S. children and adolescents are categorized as being overweight. This percentage has increased more than twofold over the past 30 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta. In response, schools are slimming down their cafeteria menus, and cookie- and snack-makers are trimming fat from their products.

Yet it's different in retail, it seems. In the aisles, kids wield more and more influence over their parents' purchasing decisions, especially when it comes to food. Children ages 4 to 12 were estimated to be responsible for $40 billion of total spending in 2002, a number that is expected to rise to $51.8 billion in 2008, according to Mintel International Group, Chicago. Children's spending has nearly doubled every decade for the past 30 years, said Mintel, prompting the food industry to spend an estimated $13 billion marketing to children in 2003.

So, for food promotions to work, they've got to be fun for kids, explained marketer Joel Chestler, a vice president at the Ryan Partnership, Wilton, Conn. "Healthy's not really fun," he said. When promotions do have a healthy message, as in the case of Campbell's Action Adventure Cruise contest, presented by its Labels for Education program, he noted, they tend to be subtle.

Not surprisingly, those retailers that do make healthful eating part of their back-to-school programs tend to be the ones that already cater to a health-conscious crowd.

Whole Foods Market, Austin, Texas, encouraged parents to pick more healthful lunch box options through product recommendations and nutrition information on its Web site. Various stores also have hosted tastings of products like its Whole Kids Organic line to show parents how to pack healthful and yummy lunches.

Wild Oats Markets, Boulder, Colo., this year expanded last year's kids health day to cover an entire month, filled with events like cooking classes for kids, pizza-making and presentations for parents on how to pack healthy lunches and fix quick, easy meals.

"We want parents to know it's a place they can still get snacks [that kids] want to eat," said Kristi Estes, a company spokeswoman. "A big thing we focus on is trying to help parents and the rest of the community combat obesity."

Wild Oats had an ad that promoted kid-targeted products like Stretch Island fruit leathers and Envirokidz cereal bars. In the grocery aisles, such items were highlighted with shelf-talkers listing the products' health benefits.

Some conventional retailers are pushing nutrition, too. Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle, through events like store tours, classroom presentations, cooking lessons and scavenger hunts, educates kids on reading labels and the importance of being active and choosing nutritious foods.

Meanwhile, Albertsons, Boise, Idaho, just last week announced a 34-state program that takes schoolchildren on "Healthy Eating" field trips to their local Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco and Shaw's stores. The field trips, conducted in cooperation with local schools, will be lead by local registered dietitians or Albertsons associates trained in teaching healthy eating habits.

Convenience is always in demand, however -- at least, by parents. According to a survey by ConAgra Food Foundation and the American Dietetic Association, 47% of lunches brought from home contain prepackaged lunch kits and 41% contain string cheese. Manufacturers have continued to roll out products in packages designed for easy holding and snacking, as well as their flavor extensions. For back-to-school, Betty Crocker has new fruit-flavored snacks in pouches. Kraft's new offerings include single-portion cracker packages and Jell-O Pudding on a stick. Diamond of California is rolling out a new line of nuts in 4.5-ounce plastic canisters, resealable pouches and variety packs of 0.5-ounce bags made for snacking and lunches. Beginning this month, they'll start appearing on endcaps in stores including Pick 'n Save, Milwaukee; Rainbow Foods, Minneapolis/St. Paul; and Publix Super Markets, Lakeland, Fla., according to Diamond.

"Convenient and quick, on-the-go type of products have increased" in popularity, said Dave Somerset, director of marketing for Spartan Stores, Grand Rapids, Mich. "Cereal companies and cookie companies have really increased their offerings of single-serve." Many of Spartan's 54 supermarkets in Michigan and Ohio featured back-to-school Center Store products like cookies, juice boxes and cereal in their Wall of Values sections at the front of the store. Rollable baskets with school supplies and freezers filled with frozen waffles and Oscar Mayer Lunchables often were placed nearby. Foods fit for school lunches and busy mornings -- drink boxes, breakfast bars and cereal -- were frequently grouped together on endcaps.

While a few chains, such as Spartan and King Soopers, Denver, a Kroger banner, are drastically discounted school supplies to compete with mass merchandisers and club stores, many retailers have limited their back-to-school focus to food.

Financial incentives and image-building remain a cornerstone of those strategies. Multiples sales, such as 10 for $10 and buy-one, get-one-free, on school lunch items are common. Some retailers reward customers in the form of credit or merchandise: Fry's Food and Drug Stores, Tolleson, Ariz., another Kroger banner, offered savings on future shopping trips to customers who spent a minimum on selected products; Foodtown, Mount Vernon, N.Y., offered a gift certificate for lunch staples to customers who spent $200 between July 31 to Aug. 27.

Retailers are involved in larger promotions as well. Participation in school fund-raising programs, in which a percentage of a customers' grocery bill goes to area schools in the form of credit for classroom supplies, is on the rise. Universal Promotions, Pittsburgh, which manages fund-raising programs for more than 3,500 individual stores, has seen the number of client stores increase 30% in each of the past few years. Ben Del Prince, vice president of sales and marketing for Universal, observed that retailers see these programs as a way to build a caring image that can distinguish themselves from other channels, especially mass merchandisers.

"You can't compete on price, so you have to find some other key," he said.

Manufacturers' fund-raising programs, such as General Mills' Box Tops for Education and Campbell's Labels for Education, also are gaining exposure due to manufacturers stepping up their retailer-exclusive promotions, Chestler said.